Method and apparatus for transferring freight



Dec. 3, 1929. A. F. CALLISON 1,737,994

I IQETHOD AND APPARATUS FOR TRANSFERRING FREIGHT Filed June 6. 1922 3 Sb ets-Sheet 1 Dec. 3, 1929. A. F. CALLISON METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR TRANsFERRING FREIGHT Filed June 6. 1922 5 Sheets-$heet 2 flwm I la/Vi? Pam/5m:

1929- A. F. cALusoN 1,737,994

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR TRANSFERRING FREIGHT Filed June 6. 1922 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 ljig. z

Patented Dec. 3, 1929 UNITED STATES ABNER F. CALLISON, OF BUFFALO CREEK, COLORADO METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR TRANSFERRING FREIGHT Application filed June 6, 1922. Serial No. 566,335. I

My invention relates to railroad transportation systems and consists in a novel method and means for transferring freight at terminals between the railroad car and other conveyances, such as delivery trucks.

It is a growing practice for freight to be shipped in large containers which are adapted to be lifted onto the platform of a flat car at the beginning of a trip and at the end of a trip to lift the container from the car onto the local delivery vehicle. Such a method eliminates the delay caused by holding cars at the loading and unloading points while the merchandise in small units is being transferred to and from the car.

The main object of my invention" is to facilitate the transferring of the containers mentioned without the necessity of heavy investments in derricks or overhead cranes. I

accomplish the objects of my invention by transferring the container from the car to the truck or vice versa, by utilizing the moving car or truck to push the container oif of the car and onto a truck.

It is obvious that to overcome friction and destructive wear on the containers, it will be necessary in the pushing of the container to lift and lower the same and I also provide this necessary adjunct to the broader idea of my invention.

In the accompanying drawings which illustrate a selected embodiment of my invention, but one capable of many variations in general arrangement as well as in details of the construction,

Figure 1 is a plan of a freight terminal adapted for my system and apparatus and showing a car equipped with containers adapted to be transferred to a truck.

4 Figure 2 is an elevation of the end of the car shown in Figure 1 of the side of the truck, and of other cooperating apparatus.

Figure 3 is a side elevation of the car with containers and illustrates the relative position of the car track and a ramp track used in my system.

Figure 4 is a detail of a container engaging device mounted upon the railroad car.

Fig. 5 is a side elevation, parts being broken and parts being shown in section, of a complete railway car loaded with containers which are being rolled up on a ramp;

Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken on the line 66 of Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is a sectional view taken'on the line 5 7-7 of Fig. 5 and showing a container on the high part of the ramptrack.

In the plan shown in Figure 1, terminal railroad tracks are indicated at 1; ramp tracks paralleling the railroad tracks but 9 located above same and havingia wider gauge are shown at .2. An'elevated track for an overhead carrier is shown at 3 extending transversely of tracks 1 and 2 and so positioned that the carrier 4 mounted on track 3 extends partly over the end of tracks 1 and 2 and partly beyond the ends of the latter over an inclined truck roadway 5 running transversely of tracks 1 and 2 and substantially on the same level. It will be understood that the railroad tracks 1 are level, the ramp tracks 2 at their outer ends-are inclined as shown in Figure 3 but at their inner ends are also level, tracks 3 are level throughout their length, and roadway 5 is inclined downward- ,5 ly from each end toward its center.

The flat cars 6 are of usual railroad construction except for the details hereinafter described and each car mounts a plurality of cargo containers 7 which are of'such size so that each one resembles a section of a box- A car body and several of which may be mounted upon a single fiat car. 1

Each container 7 is provided with inverted U-shaped metal sills 8 which preferably extend transversely of the container or longitudinally of the car and form housings or pedestals for wheels 9 journaled on the container. The length of each container 7 is greater than the width of the car 6 and sills 8 depend from the bottom of the container on each side of the floor of the car. These sills 8 act also as buffer members between the containers 7 and form a continuous strut element along the side of a loaded car. It can be v 5 readily seen that pushing one container to move a series of containers might injure any of them were it not for sill 8. I

The container while mounted on the car rests upon cross joists 10. The spacing of 19 sills 8 and wheels 9 correspond to the gauge of ramp track 2 and the top of the rails of the latter at the outer end of the track is lower than wheels 9 of a container seated upon the car floor. From this point to the inner end of the ramp track, however, the rails of the latter are inclined upwardly for a distance sufiicient to engage the container wheels and raise the latter with the container a couple of inches or so. above the car platform. Thence the ramp track extends on a level to its inner end. 7

It will be understood that as the railroad car moves toward the inner end of the railroad track, the containers will in succession ride up the ramp track and the car will be freed from their weight. g

I To provide for the pushing oi the containers along the ramp track after they are lifted from the fiat car floor is the function of the device shown in Figure 4 which constitutes a spring and air operated container engaging mechanism including anair cylinder 11, the plunger of which is connected to push rods 12 and 13 on opposite sides of the car by means of links 15 and 16 and a lever 17. Springs 18 and 19 project theends of rods 12 and 13 beyond the sides of the car and into shouldered recesses 14 formed by the abutting ends of two sills 8 on adjacent containers. Cylinder 11 is connected to the train line of'the air brake system (not shown). Admission of air from the train line to the 7 cylinder will move the piston to withdraw rods 12 and 13 from their engagement with the containers and if the container is not resting upon the car will permit the car to move independently of the container. In the present example, pairs of pushers are arranged between the several containers (Fig. 5) and project from each side of the car. By suitable valve and piping arrangements (not shown) all of the pushers of one car or an entire train may be operated simultaneously or the pushers on any one car or any one pusher may be operated individually.

The links will be retained in rod-withdrawing position and the tension of springs 18 and 19 will be overcome by admitting air to cylinder 11. The links are slotted as shown to permit the cylinder lever and links to move to their extreme positions shown in Figure 4 while rods 12 and 13 are partly retracted by engagement of their outer ends with the inside of sills 8 between their ends.

The device shown in Figure 4; is located beneath the floor of the flat car and is suitably enclosed so that it is not damaged by exposure to the load on the car nor by movement of the containers while being loaded on and unloaded from the car.

Having unloaded the container from the car by pushing the container onto the ramp track, it is then desired to move the container beyond the end of the ramp track over the truck roadway. This is accomplished by the overhead carrier which consists in a truck 4 mounted on wheels 21 and adapted to travel along track 3 and which is provided with a pair of transverse rails 22 upon which runs the wheels 23 of a smaller truck 24.

This carrier construction enables the smaller truck to be moved longitudinally and transversely of tracks 1 and 2 not only directly over the tracks but beyond the ends of the latter. The smaller truck has a plurality of rollers or wheels 25 journaled on a depending frame 26 which may be or may not be provided with the driving mechanism shown comprising a motor 27, worms 28 and worm Wheels 29.

Rollers 25 are located that when one of the containers is carried on the ramp track, the top of the roller will engage the lower surface of a rail 30 extending along container 7 above sills 8.

When the container has been pushed onto rollers 25 the manipulation of the carrier on its track enables the operator to position the container directly over a truck standing on the roadway and the height of the road way is such that the bed of the truck'will be a slight distance below the bottom of the container. The truck is provided with a pushing device less complicated than that provided on the car but having a similar function, namely, to engage the container and when the truck moves horizontally to push the container with it. As the truck moves up the inclined roadway, it will first push the carrier 4 along track 3, then lift the container from the rollers 25 transferring the weight thereof to the bed of'the truck and then carry the container out from the overhead carrier whereupon the truck may proceed upon its delivery trip.

The operations just described will be reversed when the container is being unloaded from the truck onto the car, that is, the truck will drive down the incline and the carrier,

having had its rollers 25 positioned under the container rails 30, will receive and support the container permitting the truck to be driven off immediately. The carrier will then be shifted to discharge the container onto any desired ramp track. Thus the carrier may be used continually to unload a number 01": trucks, delivering all of the containers unloaded to any one track or distributing them among the dilierent tracks according to their destinations. At any time after the containers are placed upon the ramp tracks a car having its rods retracted by operation of its cylinders may be switched under them, and the cylinder exhausted to allow springs 18 and 19 to project rods 12 and 13 to engage the containers. The car may then be pulled out with the containers being pushed along the ramp track down the inclined end of the latter until they rest upon tion of these members is purely arbitrary and is determined by the direction of the shifting of the container from car to truck.

The container engaging device to be mounted on the truck is indicated in Figure 2 and consists in a pair of projectable rods 31 which may be thrust upwardly from the body of the truck by means of a lever 32 positioned adjacent to the drivers seat and connected to rods 31 by suitable linkage 33.

Another arrangement of a truck pusher is illustrated in my copending application Serial No. 432,982 and the details of these truck pusher arrangements form no part of my present invention.

Not only can my system be used for unloading the end container or the end car of a train but by cutting the train at any point, any intermediate car connected to the engine may be moved along a ramp track and one or more of its containers left there on while the car is withdrawn and coupled to the cut-off section of the train which may then proceed upon its way. This operation would not require any more time, or as much time, as the ordinary cutting-out of a car on the train. In an emergency, a container located in the middle of a car could be re moved by unloading the containers between it and the end of the car onto one ramp track, then withdrawing the car and unloading the particular container onto another ramp track, then going back to the first ramp track and picking up the containers left there and then proceeding with the train as before described.

The inclination of the ramp tracks and the truck roadway are sufficient to take care of the variations in the height of the car or a truck platform due to spring and tire compression. The loading and unloading of the containers by means of these inclined tracks. etc., will always result in a gradual application and removal of the load from one of the vehicles, irrespective of the speed or carelessness of the operation.

vVhile the containers are on the level portions of the ramp tracks or on the overhead carrier, they may be moved by manual labor to any point in the event that it is desired to shift them and there is no car or truck present.

The above and other advantages of my system of transferring freight will greatly reduce the cost of idle cars and the labor of handling the cargoes thereof. I/Vhen the parts used have become standardized on any road, the expense of installing a terminal equipment will be offset by the reduced cost of idle rolling stock and the large amount of storage track which now exist at every terminal handling a considerable amount of freight.

I claim:

1. In a freight transferring system, a railway track, a ramp track paralleling said railway track, an overhead carrier adapted to travel longitudinally and transversely of said ramp track, a truck roadway inclined beneath said carrier, a cargo container provided with wheels to ride on said ramp track and pro- Vided with a rail to ride upon said carrier, and means for engaging said container horizontally to move it with a car on said railway track and similar means for moving the con-- tainer with a truck on said roadway.

2. In a freight transferring system, a cargo container, a level car track, a ramp track paralleling said car track and adapted to convey said cargo container, an overhead carrier at the end of said track also adapted to engage and convey said cargo container, and an inclined roadway beneath said overhead carrier so arranged that a truck may be driven under the container without elevating the container above the discharge end of said ramp track.

3. In a freight transferring system, a level car track, a cargo container, a ramp track paralleling said car track and adapted to convey said cargo container, an overhead carrier track extending transversely of said ramp and car tracks over the end portions of the latter and beyond the same which is also adapted to convey said cargo container, and an inclined truck roadway beneath that portion of said overhead track beyond the ramp and car tracks so arranged that a truck may be driven under the container without elevating the container above the discharge end of'fi 5 said ramp track.

4. In a freight transferring system, a level car track, a ramp track paralleling said car track, an overhead carrier track extending transversely of said ramp and car tracks over the end portions of the latter and beyond the same, an inclined truck roadway beneath that portion of said overhead track beyond the ramp and car tracks, a railway car on said car track, a cargo container thereon adapted to be unloaded from said car by engagement with said ramp track, a carrier on said overhead track adapted to transfer said container from over said car track to over said roadway, a truck on said roadway, and means on said car and truck for engaging said container to move it horizontally with said car and truck respectively.

5. In a freight transferring system, a railway car, a container mounted thereon and provided with wheels adapted to ride on rails posltioned exterlorly of the car, and con tainer engaging means mounted under the car platform being pneumatically operated 130 into and out of engaged position.

6. In a freight transferring system, a rail- Way car, a plurality of containers mounted thereon, each provided with wheels adapted to ride on rails positioned exteriorly of the car, and a plurality of individual pneumatically operated container engaging means mounted under the car platform.

7. In a freight transferring system, .a container, means on said container to support it from the floor of a railway car, wheel means on said container to support it on a pair of ramp rails, and means on said container to engage and ride upon rollers mounted upon an overhead carrier.

8. In a freight transferring system, a railway car, members thereon projectable transversely of the car, a container carried on said car and provided with shoulders adapted to receive said members when projected and to permit relative vertical movement thereof but which insure integral horizontal movement of the members and container.

9. In a freight transferring system, a railway car, a plurality of wheeled containers adapted to be carried on said car or to be moved on their individual wheels, each having a longitudinal sill projecting beyond the container lengthwise of the car and forming with similar sills of adjacent containers a continuous strut element for moving one of said containers longitudinally of the car by pushing on a remote container.

10. In a cargo container for railway cars, an inverted U-shaped sill extending along a bottom of the side of the container and provided with projecting buffer forming ends and, on its inner leg, with a shoulder to engage a car carrier member, and container mounting wheels positioned between the legs of said sill.

11. In a cargo container for railway cars, wheels mounted on the lower portion of the container whereby the container may be moved horizontally over suitable rails, and rail members secured to the upper portion of the container whereby the container may be moved horizontally over suitable overhead rollers.

12. In a freight transferring system, carrier roadways and ramp tracks inclined relatively to each other, wheeled carriers on said carrier roadways, wheeled containers on said carriers, and movable loading and unloading devices operable between said carriers and containers, whereby the selected number of containers may be loaded upon or unloaded from a carrier.

13. In a freight transferring system, carrier roadways and ramp tracks inclined .relatively to each other, wheeled carriers on said carrier roadways, wheeled containers on said carriers, and plural means operable between said carriers and said containers whereby a single container and a-selected number thereof may be loaded upon or unloaded from said carriers.

14. Apparatus for transferring a container from a railway cart-o a truck comprising intermediate means onto which said container is pushed, an overhead carrier from which said container is adapted to be suspended, and an inclined roadway up which said truck is adapted to travel and receive said container.

15. The combination with a container, of a hollow underframe member extending beyond the walls of said container, the end of said member being closed to form an abutting face.

16. A. transportion system comprisingramp tracks, railroad tracks below and between said ramp tracks, a carrier on said railroad tracks, containers on said carrier, provided with wheels adapted to engage said ramp tracks and plural means operable benumber of containers along said ramp track' in either direction.

18. The combination of a carrier, and wheeled containers adapted to be mounted thereon, said containers having downwardly extending underframe members on each side and adapted to straddle said carrier and to abut similar members on an adjacent container mounted on said carrier.

19. The combination with a container, of flanged supporting members arranged in each side thereof and projecting outwardly beyond the end walls of the container, and wheels mounted upon said flanged members.

20. The combination in a wheeled container, of a flanged underframe member under each side of the body of said container and projecting laterally beyond the end walls of the container body to form striking plates or dead blocks, said members being designed to straddle the platform of a carrier for the 1 container.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature this 27th day of May, 1922.

ABNE'R F. CALLISON. 

